Copy 1, Volume 1

A topographical history of Surrey / By Edward Wedlake Brayley, assisted by John Britton, and E. W. Brayley, jun. The geological section by Gideon Mantell. The illustrative department under the superintendence of Thomas Allom.

  • Edward William Brayley
Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A topographical history of Surrey / By Edward Wedlake Brayley, assisted by John Britton, and E. W. Brayley, jun. The geological section by Gideon Mantell. The illustrative department under the superintendence of Thomas Allom. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    there were about two hundred men there that are officers, [called in another place, ‘disbanded officers and reformadoes,’] and that the Town is full of Horses; that they have pistols, and carry themselves in a disorderly manner, to the terror of the people; that my Lord Digby was there on horseback with pistols; that Colonel Lunsford and two others of that name were there also; and that there was two cart-loads of ammunition going to them,”19—it was “Ordered by the Lords and Commons in Parliament, ‘ That the Sheriffs of Surrey, Berks, Bucks, Oxford, and Middlesex, calling to their assistance the Justices of the Peace, and the Trained Bands of those several Counties, or so many of them as shall be necessary for the Service, shall suppress this unlawful Assembly, and all other the like assem- blies gathered together to the Disturbance of the publick Peace of this kingdom, in their several Counties respectively.”20 By this, and other vigorous measures suited to the emergency of the case, the contem- plated outbreak against the Parliament was prevented being carried into effect; and Colonel Lunsford, whom the Commons had ordered to be arrested as a delinquent by the Serjeant-at-arms, was (according to Whitelock) committed to the Tower/1 Digby, who had been the king’s chief counsellor in his ill-advised and rash attempt to seize the five members in the House of Commons, whom he had accused of high treason, was ordered to attend in his place in parliament; but he thought it more prudent to quit the kingdom, than obey the man- date of his political opponents; and, aided by a warrant from the king, he “escaped beyond sea.”22 19 Rushworth, Historical Collections, vol. iv. p. 495. About the same time—“One Lee, a waterman, informed the House of some great saddles that were to be sent to Kingston; the Serjeant attending the House was ordered to seize them, who did seize the same accordingly.”—Id. p, 496. 20 Journals of the House of Commons, vol. ii. p. 376. 21 Whitelock’s Memorials, p. 54; edit. 1732. It appears from the Journals of the Commons, that on the 2nd of February following, it was resolved, “ That Colonel Thos. Lunsford, knt., now prisoner in the Seijeant’s Custody, shall be forthwith bailed, upon such security as shall be tendered to the Committee at Merchant Taylors-hall, and by them be allowed of.”—vol. ii. p. 411. Lunsford was a soldier of fortune, and of desperate character; yet the king, on the 24th of December, 1641, had appointed him Lieutenant of the Tower, “ he being,” says Clarendon, “ such a man as he might rely upon.” The popular indignation against Lunsford’s appointment was so strong, however, that the king found it necessary to deprive him of his keys on the evening of the 26th of December ; and soon afterwards he conferred the vacant lieutenancy on Sir John Byron. 22 Carte represents Lord Digby as having merely gone to Kingston “ in a coach and six hired horses,” with a message of thanks from his Majesty to thirty or forty of the officers who had accompanied him from Whitehall to Hampton Court, and who had after- wards “ gone to Kingston, a town over against it, on the other side of the river, to find accommodation for themselves which the palace did not afford.”—History of England, vol. iv. p. 406.
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